Q&A with Yale men’s assistant coach Tobe Carberry

Tobe Carberry is an assistant men’s basketball coach at Yale, joining the staff in 2017. He was a former star player in high school in New Haven, in college at Vermont and coached both at Central Connecticut State and LIU Brooklyn. Our Richard Kent connected with coach Carberry recently:

Ivy Hoops Online: How does recruiting differ in the Ivy League than your previous stops?Tobe Carberry: There are a lot of kids out there who are very good basketball players and have high-level academics. Scouting services do homework about such kids and we find out about them early in their junior year. More kids like that want to attend Ivies than in the past, in part because the Ivy Tournament has been very helpful from a marketing standpoint.

IHO: You grew up in New Haven. What is your history as a youth with Yale basketball?

TC: I went to a couple of the Yale basketball games and went to a lot of Yale football games at Yale Bowl.

IHO: Is the Ivy stronger or weaker than your perception before you took the job at Yale?

TC: I came in with no preconception. The current Yale run is what excites me. Yale has been very good now for a few years. I like the weekend format. We certainly played a very demanding out-of-conference schedule.

IHO: What is it like working with James Jones?

TC: It’s great. For him to be here for 20 years is just incredible. To see how he has built this program is great. He has taught me how to be a professional. He doesn’t know it, but I watch him a lot. A little known fact is that I was a member of the Vermont team which was coach Jones’ first victory at Yale (a 72-69 Yale win over Vermont on Nov. 21, 1999).

IHO: What are your career goals?

TC: I want to be a head coach at some point. Right now I want to help Yale get to the NCAAs. I am open to coaching nationally at some point in the future.

IHO: What was it like preparing for and playing Harvard?

TC: You feel the intensity of the rivalry during the week leading up to the game. The crowd is very special. It is a true rivalry game.